Diazoxide for Severe or Recurrent Neonatal Hypoglycemia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Neonatal hypoglycemia is an important preventable cause of neurodevelopmental impairment, but there is a paucity of evidence to guide treatment. Objective: To evaluate whether early, low-dose oral diazoxide for severe or recurrent neonatal hypoglycemia reduces time to resolution of hypoglycemia. Design, Setting, and Participants: This 2-arm, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial was conducted from May 2020 to February 2023 in tertiary neonatal units at 2 New Zealand hospitals. Participants were neonates born at 35 or more weeks' gestation and less than 1 week of age with severe hypoglycemia (blood glucose concentration <22 mg/dL or <36 mg/dL despite 2 doses of dextrose gel) or recurrent hypoglycemia (≥3 episodes of a blood glucose concentration <47 mg/dL within 48 hours). Interventions: Newborns were randomized 1:1 to receive diazoxide suspension (loading dose, 5 mg/kg; maintenance, 1.5 mg/kg every 12 hours) or placebo, titrated per protocol. Main Outcome and Measures: The primary outcome was time to resolution of hypoglycemia, defined as enteral bolus feeding without intravenous fluids and normoglycemia (blood glucose concentration of 47-98 mg/dL) for at least 24 hours, compared between groups using adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression. Hazard ratios adjusted for stratification variables and gestation length are reported. Prespecified secondary outcomes, including number of blood glucose tests and episodes of hypoglycemia, duration of hypoglycemia, and time to enteral bolus feeding and weaning from intravenous fluids, were compared by generalized linear models. Newborns were followed up for at least 2 weeks. Results: Of 154 newborns screened, 75 were randomized and 74 with evaluable data were included in the analysis (mean [SD] gestational age for the full cohort, 37.6 [1.6] weeks), 36 in the diazoxide group and 38 in the placebo group. Baseline characteristics were similar: in the diazoxide group, mean (SD) gestational age was 37.9 (1.6) weeks and 26 (72%) were male; in the placebo group, mean (SD) gestational age was 37.4 (1.5) weeks and 27 (71%) were male. There was no significant difference in time to resolution of hypoglycemia (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 1.39; 95% CI, 0.84-2.23), possibly due to increased episodes of elevated blood glucose concentration and longer time to normoglycemia in the diazoxide group. Resolution of hypoglycemia, when redefined post hoc as enteral bolus feeding without intravenous fluids for at least 24 hours with no further hypoglycemia, was reached by more newborns in the diazoxide group (AHR, 2.60; 95% CI, 1.53-4.46). Newborns in the diazoxide group had fewer blood glucose tests (adjusted count ratio [ACR], 0.63; 95% CI, 0.56-0.71) and episodes of hypoglycemia (ACR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.17-0.63), reduced duration of hypoglycemia (adjusted ratio of geometric means [ARGM], 0.18; 95% CI, 0.06-0.53), and reduced time to enteral bolus feeding (ARGM, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.58-0.95) and weaning from intravenous fluids (ARGM, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.60-0.87). Only 2 newborns (6%) treated with diazoxide had hypoglycemia after the loading dose compared with 20 (53%) with placebo. Conclusions and Relevance: In this randomized clinical trial, early treatment of severe or recurrent neonatal hypoglycemia with low-dose oral diazoxide did not reduce time to resolution of hypoglycemia but reduced time to enteral bolus feeding and weaning from intravenous fluids, duration of hypoglycemia, and frequency of blood glucose testing compared with placebo. Trial Registration: ANZCTR.org.au Identifier: ACTRN12620000129987.

Improving Golden Hour Care Coordination: Using Defined Roles to Improve Nurse Confidence and Care Coordination of Neonates Following Admission.

STUDY AIM: To investigate whether use of admission lanyards improves nurse confidence, care coordination, and infant health outcomes during neonatal emergency admissions. METHODS: Admission lanyards that defined team roles, tasks, and responsibilities were evaluated in a mixed-methods, historically controlled, and nonrandomized intervention study. Methods included (i) 81 pre- and postintervention surveys to explore nurse confidence, (ii) 8 postintervention semistructured interviews to elicit nurse perceptions of care coordination and nurse confidence, and (iii) a quantitative comparison of infant care coordination and health outcomes for 71 infant admissions before and 72 during the intervention. RESULTS: Nurse participants reported that using lanyards during neonatal admissions improved clarity of roles and responsibilities, communication, and task delegation, contributing to better admission flow, team leadership, accountability, and improved nurse confidence. Care coordination outcomes showed significantly improved time to stabilization for intervention infants. Radiographies for line placement were performed 14.4 minutes faster, and infants commenced intravenous nutrition 27.7 minutes faster from time of admission. Infant health outcomes remained similar between groups. CONCLUSION: Admission lanyards were associated with improved nurse confidence and care coordination during neonatal emergency admissions, significantly reducing time to stabilization for infants, shifting outcomes closer to the Golden Hour.

Oral diazoxide versus placebo for severe or recurrent neonatal hypoglycaemia: Neonatal Glucose Care Optimisation (NeoGluCO) study - a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Infants with severe or recurrent transitional hypoglycaemia continue to have high rates of adverse neurological outcomes and new treatment approaches are needed that target the underlying pathophysiology. Diazoxide is one such treatment that acts on the pancreatic ß-cell in a dose-dependent manner to decrease insulin secretion. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Phase IIB, double-blind, two-arm, parallel, randomised trial of diazoxide versus placebo in neonates ≥35 weeks' gestation for treatment of severe (blood glucose concentration (BGC)<1.2 mmol/L or BGC 1.2 to <2.0 mmol/L despite two doses of buccal dextrose gel and feeding in a single episode) or recurrent (≥3 episodes <2.6 mmol/L in 48 hours) transitional hypoglycaemia. Infants are loaded with diazoxide 5 mg/kg orally and then commenced on a maintenance dose of 1.5 mg/kg every 12 hours, or an equal volume of placebo. The intervention is titrated from the third maintenance dose by protocol to target BGC in the range of 2.6-5.4 mmol/L. The primary outcome is time to resolution of hypoglycaemia, defined as the first point at which the following criteria are met concurrently for ≥24 hours: no intravenous fluids, enteral bolus feeding and normoglycaemia. Groups will be compared for the primary outcome using Cox's proportional hazard regression analysis, expressed as adjusted HR with a 95% CI. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This trial has been approved by the Health and Disability Ethics Committees of New Zealand (19CEN189). Findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, to clinicians and researchers at local and international conferences and to the public. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12620000129987.

Glucagon for Neonatal Hypoglycaemia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Glucagon is often used in neonatal hypoglycaemia, but its effects have not been systematically assessed. We undertook a systematic review to determine the efficacy and safety of glucagon treatment for neonatal hypoglycaemia. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and CENTRAL from inception until May 2021. We included studies that reported one or more prespecified outcomes and compared glucagon with placebo or no glucagon. Studies were excluded if the majority (>70%) of participants were >1 month of age. Two authors independently extracted data. We used ROB-2/modified ROBINS-I to assess risk of bias, GRADE for certainty of evidence, and RevMan for meta-analysis. RESULTS: 100 studies were screened, 37 reviewed in full, and seven single-arm non-randomised intervention studies, involving 348 infants, were included (no trials). Data were insufficient to undertake meta-analysis of the critical outcomes (time to blood glucose normalization, recurrent hypoglycaemia, neurocognitive impairment). In 3 studies, ≥80% of neonates achieved normoglycaemia within 4 h of glucagon administration. However, recurrent hypoglycaemia was common (up to 55%). Glucagon increased blood glucose concentration at 1-2 h by 2.3 mmol/L (95% CI 2.1, 2.5) (low certainty evidence, 6 studies, N = 323). There were few data for other important clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION: There is a paucity of evidence about the efficacy and safety of glucagon for treatment of neonatal hypoglycaemia. Low certainty evidence suggests that glucagon may increase blood glucose by ∼2.3 mmol/L but recurrent hypoglycaemia appears common. High-quality, randomized controlled trials are required to determine the role of glucagon in managing neonatal hypoglycaemia.